The Taawa Nation
TAAWA NATION Leader: Chief Duck Sitting The story of Duck Sitting revolves around... *Motivation (abstract want): A way to spread the influence of his nation to the rest of the land. *Goal (concrete want): More bountiful crops to feed a growing populace, or to stabilize the population growth in his nation. *Conflict (obstacles): More people means more food is needed, which leads to more farming, and both cause and effect increase the need for land. Summary: Unlike their major trade partner the Skjoldras, the Taawa Nation has had little trouble from the armies in the Northlands, being considered backward and foolish by the giants. Chief Duck Sitting will tell a different tale from his boyhood, when the Mighty Northlands sent their forces into Taawa lands. His version is filled with the exploits of his people against confused and sloppy Stompers, as the giants are referred to by his people. Additionally, they are protected by the Three Keeps of Blood Valley to the northwest. With no real enemy threat, the Nation's population is rising at an alarming rate and land is at a premium in their valley. Increased demand for food has changed the balance between viable farmland and barren land which must be given time to replenish. The increasingly depleted land is returning less crops each season, and people may be going hungry very soon. Duck Sitting realizes that isolating his people is weakening them, and bloating their homeland's borders. He seeks a way to compel his people to explore the world, marry, and spread their influence to other nations. This is, however, in direct defiance of the past five hundred years of tradition. Chief Duck Sitting literally has his back against the wall, with the sheer face of the Cliff Palace looming over him on a daily basis. The people of Taawa Nation are easily recognizable by their reddish skin color and elaborately stitched leather clothing. Frequently bare-chested, as war shirts are too cumbersome to wear when not in battle, they wear leggings and breechclouts with moccasins. The more ornamented and well-stitched, and the number of horizontal lines representing victorious battles, the more prominent the tribesman. The Taawa fish, hunt small game and birds, and gather wild foods in their newly developing home. A woodland culture, these people have learned to live off the land, and even to make the land work for their good. Eventually building elaborate structures in the cliff walls, the Taawa moved from their early subterranean pit-houses, sunken homes with stonework walls, into elaborately carved mansions high atop cliff walls and stone structures. As they developed above ground storage facilities, the Taawa began to build grand houses into the stones, acquiring new living quarters and using their former underground dwellings as spiritual centers called "kivas." The kiva, used for religious teaching and rituals the Taawa practice, became a meeting place for the tribes and clans. The center of the kiva contained a hole, which is said to have symbolized the "sipapa," the place of origin through which Taawa ancestors first emerged into this world. To this day, the kiva has remained a sacred site, a place of spiritual energy and space. The early Taawa people lived in small groups of a few families, with perhaps 10-25 people living in each village, on average, for about 100 years. However, the Taawa population exploded during the last half of the 2nd century, filling the valley and to the southeast upon the desert cliffs. And, as their society grew, the Taawa villages banded together to control their water supply with earthen dams and irrigation systems, turning parts of the high arid desert into gardens of various crops to feed their people. The culture was able to develop crops with deep roots, able to reach underground water, and thus afford the Taawa greater access to food supplies. As their food grew, their society grew, and with that, culture and art flourished. Baskets and pottery were plentiful, with both functional uses and artful appearances. As the tribes grew, they also developed elaborate trading routes, enabling them to travel to far away places, trading for goods which they, themselves, lacked. These trade roads also allowed other people of the regions to come into the Taawa villages for equal trade, as well. Life was good for these once nomadic and unsettled people. Settlements around what we know today as Acoma Pueblo became a center for the Taawa civilization. With more than 400 miles of roads leading up to and away from the pueblo, people from far regions were able to access the goods produced by the Taawa people. Contact with far away people allowed the pueblo residents to possess items and to see things they might other wise have never experienced, which allowed their culture to further grow and develop. Along the trading roads, signal stations began to develop, allowing messages to be sent along the route, alerting the pueblo and other settlements to impending trouble or approaching travelers and traders. They also provide the traveling bands with a place to stop and rest on their journeys. Initially a poor nation, trade with the Skjoldras through Chuska and a number of smaller nations through Zuni and Kayenta has brought the Taawa to prominence in recent years. The exceptional craftsmanship of their light armors, daggers and bows has made these items hot commodities among the other nations. ACOMA PUEBLO – Taawa capital While the Cliff Palace is the actual seat of rule for the Taawa Nation, the Pueblo actually contains three separate cities situated around a central temple. The temple contains the Taawa Monolith, and the three cities surrounding it are considered one. The Cliff Palace is carved into rock that rises above the Pueblo, and is considered a part of the whole. Moqui steps are a recurring feature found in the area of Acoma Pueblo and the Cliff Palace. The steps consist of alternating hand and toe holds carved into vertical or near-vertical sandstone surfaces. The steps are usually two to three inches deep, and three to four inches in width and height. The Cliff Palace is remarkable for being carved out of a 200 ft high cliff ridge formed from volcanic tufa. The rock is relatively soft and can be excavated using wooden tools. Some 740 rooms are carved out of the cliff, although additional houses constructed from talus blocks line the base of the cliff. In fact it seems likely that many of these houses grow to be several stories high and the cave rooms then become the back rooms of these homes. Along with the cave rooms, lines of post holes are carved into the cliff face. These support roof beams for the block houses and are also anchor points for wood ladders and walkways used to reach the cliff houses. There are also about a dozen stairways, more like ladders of foot and hand holds, that lead to the top of the cliff. Many of the stairways lead up to the large 'Community House' which has beepartially constructed on the top of the cliff. The Taawa Monolith Temple lies near the center of the vast mesa of Acoma Pueblo. Constructed of talus blocks the Taawa decide not to destroy the old temple, but to build over it. They have made the temple larger, more extravagant, and more pleasing to the eye with each new layer. In addition, the subsequent temples have more steps, more decorations, and a larger sacrificial area. (This temple looks a lot like the great Egyptian pyramids except it does not have a pointed top. Instead, it has a flat top with two small compartments where sacrifices are held) The temple has been built over six times, each new temple being more magnificent than the others.